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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27869969">Nature vs Nurture</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Going_Supernova/pseuds/Star_Going_Supernova'>Star_Going_Supernova</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>human titans 'verse [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Godzilla: King of The Monsters (2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Brownies, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Minor Violence, everyone's fine it's all fine, not much else to really say, this is kinda silly but i'm very happy with it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:42:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,735</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27869969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Going_Supernova/pseuds/Star_Going_Supernova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maddie was having a good day. A great day, even. Naturally, a certain someone has to come along and ruin it. </p><p>
  <em>(in which, despite being a totally different AU, brownies kinda solve everything)</em>
</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>King Ghidorah &amp; Madison Russell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>human titans 'verse [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565005</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>105</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nature vs Nurture</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was… hard. Because I wanted it be funny, but Maddie also has to deal with the reality that Ghidorah killed a lot of people, her mom and Aunt Viv being two of them. So I’m sorry if her thoughts on that feel a little rushed, but I didn’t want it to be the focus of the fic.</p><p>Also, this is a one-shot! The point of this story was to introduce Ghidorah to the AU and get the first meeting/confrontation between him and Maddie written. So as much as we’d probably all enjoy it, I have no plans to write a smackdown between Ghidorah and Godzilla/Mothra, or even Mark. (rest assured that they probably happened, tho)</p><p>Hope y'all enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a lovely day, sunny and warm with a nice gentle breeze. Sitting on a blanket in the shade beside a pond at a local park with a book in one hand and a chocolate shake in the other, Maddie couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon. Her dad had promised they could get takeout from her favorite restaurant tonight, and a movie she’d been wanting to see had just become available for renting online.</p><p>She was happy and relaxed. Her book was wonderful. The chocolate shake was perfect.</p><p>Maddie didn’t dare even think about <em>thinking </em>the words “what could possibly go wrong,” because she knew better than to tempt the universe on that front. So she kept herself busy and distracted to avoid giving those words in that particular order even a sliver of mental power. She was not going to goad the universe into ruining her day, no sirree.</p><p>(Unfortunately, the universe did so hate to be cheated out of such a good opportunity.)</p><p>She reached the end of her book and set it down before flopping back. It’d had a satisfying ending, which could sometimes be hard to come by, and left her excitedly anticipating the next one in the series. Maddie enjoyed the peace and quiet, the sun shining through the leaves above her, the soft blanket, the rippling sound of the water.</p><p>Eventually, she stood and grabbed her things to head back home. It wasn’t time for dinner yet, but she knew they had a box of brownie mix in the pantry, and today was just the sort of day to make them.</p><p>Returning to the path winding through the park, Maddie threw away her empty shake cup and tucked the blanket over her left arm. Just as she turned to leave, someone stepped up right next to her and, sounding frustrated and irritated and distracted at all once, growled, “Human child.”</p><p>Maddie’s perfect afternoon came to a screeching halt when she turned and looked up at the man who’d spoken, the man who could only be Ghidorah in human form.</p><p>She did what any insane person—one who’d already faced him when he was roughly five hundred feet taller—would do.</p><p>Without saying a word, she reared back and punched him square in the face.</p><p>• • •</p><p>His absurd healing ability didn’t seem to carry over into this form. Ten minutes later, his nose was still leaking blood and was definitely crooked. Maddie silently handed him an ice pack wrapped in a towel. She refused to apologize for breaking his nose. He deserved that, plus the inevitable re-break once Godzilla found out he was here.</p><p>Sitting in her kitchen with bruises already darkening on either side of the swollen area, Ghidorah didn’t look all that impressive. He was pretty tan, especially compared to her, but he was covered in pale freckles that kinda made it look like he’d been out in the sun with tiny dots of sunscreen littering his face and neck and hands and arms.</p><p>Now that they were inside, his hair—which she was <em>this </em>close to calling a mullet—was brown, but when they’d still been out in the sun, it had glinted gold. His eyes, even more so than Godzilla and Mothra’s, were completely unnatural. Around his pupils, which turned out to be diamond-shaped, they were bright yellow, which deepened to gold and then into red at the outer edge of his irises.</p><p>It had been unmistakably him, even if his words hadn’t helped give him away. Not even the plain black t-shirt, colorful board shorts—patterned with red tropical flowers—and flip flops had been enough to distract her from the fangs.</p><p>Ghidorah hissed when he held the ice pack to his nose. Maddie thought about telling the idiot not to put pressure on it, but ultimately decided he was a big boy Titan who could figure that out for himself. She leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest.</p><p>“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” she asked.</p><p>“Death is fleeting for a god like us,” he answered in the most ridiculous voice. There was no possible way to appear powerful and intimidating when it sounded like you were pinching your nose shut. Go on, try.</p><p>“If you wanted me to ask Godzilla to try again, you should’ve just said so. Maybe it’ll stick next time.”</p><p>Ghidorah growled, shoulders tensing as if he intended to jump up and attack her. Joke was on him, she’d positioned herself right next to the knife block. Instead, his eyes squeezed shut and he shuddered.</p><p>Maddie frowned when he went all relaxed, slumping against the table beside him as if he was exhausted.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he said, and his voice <em>wobbled</em>. Maddie straightened up in alarm, because there was no way she would be able to handle a crying Ghidorah. “It’s just been so hard,” he whined.</p><p>“Uh—”</p><p>“We didn’t <em>ask </em>to become human,” he continued. Genuinely teary puppy-dog eyes turned to look at her. “And it’s so different and they’re so angry but it’s only because they’re confused. We’ve always had to share a body, but it’s never been—it’s never been the head we’ve shared.”</p><p>“Wait,” Maddie said, taking a cautions step forward. Either he was an excellent actor—and his deadpan “human child” greeting pretty strongly disproved that—or he might as well have just become a different person. Which could only mean… “Are all three of you trapped in there?”</p><p>He nodded pitifully. “Only one of us can be in control at a time. Otherwise, we’re just… <em>voices</em>.”</p><p>And, okay. That sounded traumatic as hell to her. If she was suddenly a mere passenger in her own head when she was used to having control over herself—even only partially, like Ghidorah had as a Titan—being polite would be the last thing on her mind.</p><p>Ghidorah sniffled. “We shared control, but now I. I have to control everything. All the limbs. Every little movement. My words are the only ones you can hear. It’s—it’s complicated and awful.”</p><p>Then it was even worse than what she could imagined. Maybe—it was like the Jaegers from <em>Pacific Rim</em>? All three pilots were needed to function correctly, and now there was only one. It made sense, even if she couldn’t understand the feeling herself.</p><p>An actual tear slid down Ghidorah’s cheek.</p><p>Maddie internally panicked. Ordinary human Ghidorah, fine. She could handle that. Punching was a valid solution. But sad, confused, miserable Ghidorah? “Okay, okay. Godzilla and Mothra go back and forth all the time, so I’m sure you can too.”</p><p>What was she <em>doing?</em> Reassuring the Titan who’d not only murdered her mom but tried to destroy the rest of the planet—nearly killing Godzilla and temporarily killing Mothra in the process—that he could go back to being big and scary? Was she crazy?</p><p>“But how?” He lowered the towel and prodded at his nose, wincing.</p><p>“Wha—don’t poke at it, you idiot!”</p><p>“We’ve never bled for so long before.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, it looks like it stopped, so don’t mess with it or it might start again.” She contemplated her options. Calling Monarch to see if they could get ahold of Godzilla or Mothra was probably the smart idea. Her dad, in a perfect world, would never find out about this.</p><p>Ghidorah groaned and gripped his head. “Ah—we, we’re switching again.”</p><p>Maddie took a big step back, closer to her knives. That one had been much nicer, if somewhat weepy, than the first. She doubted she’d be lucky enough to get two polite—sides? heads? did they have names?—in a row.</p><p>When he focused on her again, his eyes narrowed and he clucked his tongue. “You look ready to stab us, foolish mortal.”</p><p>“Don’t tempt me.” She briefly contemplated grabbing a knife just in case, but the chance that it would only provoke him wasn’t worth it. “Why come to me, then? I have no idea how the transforming stuff works.”</p><p>He straightened up from his slouch, shoulders back, chin held high. This was almost worse than the aggression.</p><p>“Please, as if we could’ve gone to Godzilla. He wouldn’t have let us get so much as a word out before frying us where we stood. Though, <em>clearly</em>—” he cast a disdainful look at the bloody towel— “hit first, ask questions later isn’t mutually exclusive to him.”</p><p>“<em>You,</em>” Maddie said with all the poison she could muster, “have no room to complain. <em>Especially </em>not since your idea of a hobby seems to be planet-wide destruction.”</p><p>With a sniff—and not the sad, crying sort—Ghidorah turned his head away. “It’s merely our nature.”</p><p>Reaching back without looking, Maddie grabbed the handle of the biggest knife in the block. “I’ll show you <em>nature, </em>you—”</p><p>Ghidorah lurched to his feet with a satisfyingly alarmed noise.</p><p>“Try and hurt me, and we’ll see how willing Godzilla is to ask questions,” she added, grinning, as she advanced.</p><p>Slinking around the table to put a little more distance between them, he cleared his throat. “I hardly think that’s necessary—”</p><p>“You killed all three of my mother figures. You don’t get to decide what’s <em>necessary </em>when you came to <em>me, </em>expecting me to help solve your problem.”</p><p>Maddie paused at the edge of the table across from him, contemplating whether she could jump it before he could get away. It might depend on how willing he was to defend himself from her. Going too far would be as good as signing his own death sentence.</p><p>“Give me one good reason not to shove this through your throat,” she challenged him, waving the knife. “Or to call Godzilla and have him do it for me.”</p><p>And he would, if she asked. Mothra probably would too. Gladly, even.</p><p>“It’s our nature,” Ghidorah repeated, though he sounded much less haughty. “Our kind has always destroyed other planets.”</p><p>“That’s not an excuse,” she snapped. “Saying that it’s part of how your species works, fine, I get that. But you’re not some dumb animal, obviously. You made your choices, and if it’s—instinct, or whatever, for you to tear entire worlds apart—you still made the decision to give in to that instinct on a super populated planet. You still killed people I loved.”</p><p>There was a long silence.</p><p>“We… are not here to cause trouble.” The way he shifted restlessly, eyes flickering around the room but clearly avoiding her, all pointed to uncertainty and some level of uncomfortableness. Good. He deserved it. “And, you’re… right. Our actions cannot truly be excused.”</p><p>“And what’s to stop you from doing it all over again <em>if </em>Godzilla helps you change back?”</p><p>His throat bobbed. “We have no intention to—” he said haltingly. “Our nature—following it has only ever brought us pain.” He huffed. “And we are sss. Sssor. Sssorrr.”</p><p>“I will stand here until you say it. Don’t think I’ll let you off the hook for being so pitiful.”</p><p>“Now would be an excellent time to switch,” he muttered to himself. “The whole <em>apology </em>thing is not in my realm of expertise.”</p><p>“Oh boo hoo, you have to face the consequences of your actions. Big baby.”</p><p>Clearing his throat, twice, he finally managed, “We… apologize for bringing pain to you, your family, and your planet.”</p><p>“Mm. Well. I can’t say you’re forgiven, especially with how terrible of an apology that was. But maybe I’ll tell Godzilla to give you a chance.”</p><p>He dithered for a long moment, perhaps hoping one of the others would take over, before sighing. “Would you feel better if you stabbed us?”</p><p>Maddie narrowed her eyes and hefted her knife. “Only one way to find out.”</p><p>• • • </p><p>“And these… brownies. They taste good?”</p><p>“Spoken by a true loser who’s probably never even heard of chocolate.”</p><p>Ghidorah leaned over and watched as she stirred the batter in the large plastic bowl. The carton of eggs sat out, along with a used measuring cup. The steady hum of the oven preheating filled the kitchen. An open first-aid kit, numerous bloody towels, a pair of scissors, and a blood-stained knife littered the table off to the side. On the floor was a decently sized puddle of blood that she should really be cleaning up, but… brownies.</p><p>There was a fresh rip in Ghidorah’s t-shirt, and if it hadn’t been black, the blood soaking the front would’ve been <em>so </em>much more visible. Just beyond the tear, positioned over the right side of his upper chest, one might witness a flash of white bandages.</p><p>(Stabbing him as hard as she could—driving the blade in right up to the handle—had actually made her feel much better, thank you. The real problem was clean-up.)</p><p>“Push that glass pan closer,” she instructed. Ghidorah, impressively, slid it over without a word of complaint. Lifting the bowl, Maddie scraped the batter into the rectangular baking dish. Right on time, the oven beeped to announce it was done preheating.</p><p>When she rapidly slid the dish back and forth in place on the counter, Ghidorah reeled back. “Why are you doing that?” he asked in the same tone as someone who was witnessing their friend try to stuff forty marshmallows into their mouth.</p><p>“To get the batter to spread evenly. And now it’s flat on the top, too, see?”</p><p>He hesitantly relaxed back into his place, nodding. “And now?”</p><p>Maddie went to the oven, pulled it open, and carefully pushed the glass dish into the center of the rack inside. “Now we wait while it cooks. This is the most boring part, obviously. And this is when we clean everything up, so we don’t have to bother once the brownies are done.” She set a timer and picked up the spoon from the bowl.</p><p>With a great, dramatic sigh, she offered it to him. “Guest’s privilege.”</p><p>Ghidorah gingerly accepted the spoon and proceeded to stand there, staring at her.</p><p>“You lick it,” she finally said. “Raw batter’s awesome.”</p><p>“Ah.” He eyed it dubiously.</p><p>“Oh for—it’s not poisoned, you paranoid idiot! Just, eat the batter. It’s good, I promise. Unless you have a chocolate allergy?”</p><p>He sniffed. “As if a being as superior as us could possibly succumb to something as mortal as an allergy.” And then, with great defiance, he licked the spoon.</p><p>Maddie burst out laughing when his eyes went wide with a glorious epiphany. “Told ya,” she sing-songed.</p><p>By the time all the ingredients were put away, the spoon was completely clean and Ghidorah was side-eyeing the remnants of batter in the bowl.</p><p>She watched him fidget for a minute—long enough for his internal pilot to swap again, back to the aggressive one—before rolling her eyes. “Have at it.” If he wanted to look ridiculous by shoving his entire face in the bowl, she wasn’t going to stop him.</p><p>In fact, if she got lucky, he’d unknowingly get some batter on his forehead or something, and she wouldn’t say <em>anything</em>.</p><p>To his credit, and her initial disappointment, he swiped his finger through the batter instead of bringing the bowl to his mouth. This show of restraint luckily lasted only ten seconds, and Maddie was back to laughing in no time.</p><p>“And to think,” she said, once he’d finally returned the bowl to the counter. “If it tastes so good like that…”</p><p>Ghidorah’s eyes fell on the humming oven, then the timer. He cleared his throat. “Will it, ah, be much longer?”</p><p>• • • </p><p>When Godzilla walked into the apartment about half an hour later, the first thing his eyes landed on was Maddie and an unfamiliar man sitting cross-legged on the island counter with a mostly empty pan of brownies and two glasses of milk between them.</p><p>“Hey, G,” Maddie called over, brownie in hand. “I didn’t think you were coming over tonight.”</p><p>Speechless, Godzilla glanced around the room as if hoping for clues. The pool of blood by the kitchen table, and the first aid supplies on top of it, really only made things worse.</p><p>Incredibly, at a second, closer look, the man seemed to be the one with a very bloody shirt.</p><p>Maddie nodded down at the glass dish and swallowed her mouthful. “If you want a brownie, you better come grab one before Mr. Greedy over here eats them all.”</p><p>“Ex<em>cuse</em> me, but you have easily eaten just as many—”</p><p>“<em>Ghidorah?!”</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I spent ten minutes researching where you could get stabbed without too big of consequences only to decide, “screw it, she’s aiming for the chest out of rage and his healing factor will keep him from dying despite it not helping at all with the broken nose.” </p><p>Also, Ghidorah’s other reason for going to her was because if she didn’t give him a chance, he knew Godzilla/Mothra wouldn’t. </p><p>• <a href="https://star-going-supernova.tumblr.com">my tumblr</a> •</p></blockquote></div></div>
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